Maybe not entirely – I’m still way behind on a BUNCH of stuff – but let’s start the Christmas posts now.

Since moving into Schubert HQ early in 2012, Andrew and I decided we wanted to spend our first Christmas in our house, actually IN OUR HOUSE and not go anywhere. PLUS I had to work on the day after Christmas and Andrew had to work the Saturday before, so it would have been a very short trip anyway.

So my family decided to come to us. My parents drove out the Friday night before (got in late) and met Fang and Khaleesi for the first time. The girls were wary but not totally reticent…..

Until Kevin got there with his dog Muppet.

Muppet is very sweet and very mellow, but the cats didn’t know that.

They arrived (from Colorado) around 3a. Khaleesi was near the stairs when they walked in and she just bolted when she saw Muppet. Fang was near the back door so more or less got cornered.

Not that Muppet paid any attention to her whatsoever, but Fang didn’t have anywhere to run if she wanted to.

She happened to be playing in a box when Muppet came in, so she was at least afforded that little protection.

Since it was so so late, Kevin just went to bed (Muppet slept with him in the guest room) and the cats both went upstairs with Andrew and I …. Deal with whatever that big shaggy thing was in the morning, I guess.

In anticipation of Kevin staying here with Muppet for several days, we moved the cats’ food bowls upstairs and early Saturday morning Andrew went and got a baby gate to put at the bottom of the stairs.

This way, at least, the girls could stay upstairs and feel safe away from the dog if they wanted…. but they could also easily go through the bars of the stair rails and come downstairs if they wanted.

I don’t know if Khaleesi even left our bedroom. She was petrified of the dog.

Everyone woke up, ate, relaxed, and Kevin had not yet met the cats…..

He got them this HUGE stuffed rat that actually has a pocket to put catnip inside it… So we all went upstairs to watch him give them their Christmas present.

But, of course, having strangers up there scared them too, so they both stayed under the bed until everyone left …. Once the cats felt more comfortable, I got some fun shots of them checking out their new toy:

The rest of Saturday was pretty low-key.

Andrew got home from work… Grandma came over (she was staying with Ted and Kristi) and Spencer stopped by as well.

Khaleesi was a baby, but Fang was brave enough to come down and check things out.

I hadn’t really made any plans for everyone except dinner.

Brussel Sprouts with bacon, quinoa with butter and green onion, and pork roast….

I think it turned out pretty well…

super sweet dog…

After dinner, Andrew was really hoping Khaleesi would be more social (we hadn’t seen her all day), so he tried to calm her down by making her smell catnip….. It didn’t really work

Grandma went back to Ted and Kristi’s after dinner, but Spencer (and then Sara) stayed to hang out and play Mario Kart.

I love that my dad plays video games with everyone

I went to bed relatively early on this Saturday night …. since I was going to be making brunch for something like 17 people the next morning.